


affection (brotherly and otherwise)

by Traincat



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-14
Updated: 2011-03-14
Packaged: 2017-10-16 23:31:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/170553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Traincat/pseuds/Traincat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Strictly speaking, there's no rule that says Dick isn't allowed in Damian's room."</p><p>Dick's big brother Damian has a boyfriend, which is crazy, because Damian's a jerk. Slight AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	affection (brotherly and otherwise)

**Author's Note:**

> From the [Young Justice anon meme](http://community.livejournal.com/yj_anon_meme/), for the prompt: _Dick's big brother Damian has a boyfriend. Dick is freaking out a bit, because it's Damian, and Damian's an ass, and why would this nice kid Colin be dating him?? Wally can't believe it, and everyone else is wondering what Robin's freaking out about. Superboy is confused._

Strictly speaking, there’s no rule that says Dick isn’t allowed in Damian’s room.

Sure, Damian’s forbidden him, and Alfred’s low murmurs of, “Master Richard, before you enter that room, I’d just like to say how disappointed I am that you are throwing away your young life,” are warning enough, but Bruce has never said anything about it. Ergo – not a rule.

Besides, Colin was over. Colin was over, and Damian had specifically ordered Dick to leave them alone.

(“He can stay,” Colin had said, because Colin’s _nice_ and polite and he does things like volunteer at the Gotham Animal Shelter. Dick has no clue why he’d even want to be friends with Damian in the first place.

“No,” Damian had replied with a glance nothing short of withering, “he can’t.”)

Plus, the door’s locked, which just isn’t cool. For one, Dick never gets to lock _his_ door, especially not when he has company over. If he’s even allowed company, which most of the time he isn’t. For another, it means that there’s something _interesting_ going on, because Damian’s never locked the door before, not when he’s had Colin over for tutoring or video games.

Luckily the lock proves easy enough to pick. He opens the door just a crack, as quietly as he can, because if Damian catches him, well. He doesn’t actually think Damian will kill him. But it’ll be a close thing. He leans in close and peers through the doorway.

What he sees makes him go stock still.

It’s Colin and Damian, but they’re not playing games or pouring over Colin’s homework. They’re standing in the middle of the room, swaying slightly in the sunlight slanting in from Damian’s huge windows, and they’re so close together that their foreheads touch.

Colin’s eyes are closed. Damian’s aren’t.

It’s the look on his face that keeps Dick there, his eyes glued to the scene. It’s intense. Studious. It’s like the expression he wears in battle, but different, softer, and his eyes trace Colin’s face. Like he’s trying to memorize every detail.

It’s no surprise when they kiss.

Damian’s hands are on Colin’s waist. He slips his thumb under the hem of his t-shirt, and his fingers skim the waistband of Colin’s jeans. Dick can’t help it – he squeaks in shock. Then he claps both hands over his mouth.

Colin gasps. He blushes flaming red and tries to break away, but Damian just tightens his grip. He growls.

“Richard,” he says without looking over his shoulder. “You have exactly three seconds before I –”

Dick doesn’t wait for him to finish. He takes off as fast as he can and doesn’t stop until he’s hiding underneath the kitchen table where Alfred can protect him.

\--

“Wait wait wait,” Wally says, spraying cookie crumbs everywhere. He holds his hands up. “Damian. Like, your brother, Damian? Your evil brother?”

“He’s not evil,” Dick says, but it’s more reflex than anything. He scrunches his hands in his hair. “They were like… kissing! And stuff!”

“Gross,” Wally says, making a face.

They’re alone in the kitchen, which is why Dick feels okay about using Damian’s real name. And if anyone walks in, well. It won’t take much to convince them it’s a codename. Damian does bear certain striking resemblances to the kid from _The Omen_.

“What’s gross?” M’gann asks, floating in. Speak of the devil.

“Robin’s brother has a boyfriend,” Wally fills her in. Dick groans and puts his head down on the table.

M’gann looks a little confused.

“Why is that gross?” she says. “I think that’s sweet!”

“It’s gross because Robin’s brother is evil,” Wally says, and M’gann’s face falls. She looks at Robin with big, shining eyes and actually clasps her hands together.

“That’s so terrible!” she says. “Robin, I’m so sorry – to have your family torn apart like that –”

“He’s not _evil_ evil,” Dick mumbles into the tabletop. “Not supervillain evil. Just... big brother evil.”

“He dangled him off a rooftop once,” Wally tells M’gann. “By his ankle.”

M’gann looks shocked.

“That story has extenuating circumstances,” he points out, because he will admit that, out of context, it does make Damian seem a little morally ambiguous. But Dick had been ten and extremely obnoxious and Damian hadn’t exactly been patient at fifteen. He never would have really dropped him. Besides, Bruce had been right there. “He’s really not evil.”

“Who’s evil?” Superboy asked from the doorway, and Dick fought the urge to just slide under the table and stay there.

“No one!” he says, throwing his hands up. “No one is evil!”

Superboy frowns.

“That’s not true,” he says. “We fight evil. Last week you told me that robot was evil and that I should punch it in the face.”

Dick does give into the urge then. He slithers out of his seat and onto the floor until he’s sitting in a lotus position under the table.

It doesn’t really work. Wally kicks him, and Superboy has the nerve to steal his chair.

\--

The threat of Damian looms large at the manor. He lurks around every corner, down every hallway. Dick’s taken to sticking as close to Alfred as possible. The pro is that Damian has yet to leap out at him. The con is that Dick’s been doing a lot of dusting.

It can only work for so long.

Dick’s helping Alfred clean the west library when Damian’s patience runs out and Dick finds himself lassoed with the vacuum cord. Damian tests it once, then tugs sharply, and Dick falls over with a squawk. Damian reels him in, heedless of the scratches Dick’s nails are leaving on the library’s antique and clearly priceless carpet.

“I’ll bring him back in one piece,” he tells Alfred as he swings Dick over his shoulder. Alfred heaves a longsuffering sigh and continues dusting the books.

“Please do,” he says.

Dick spends the entire trek to Damian’s room trying to escape. He squirms and kicks and claws at Damian’s back, but all Damian does is hiss and hold on tighter. Finally he throws Dick down onto his bed and stands above him, arms crossed.

“Richard,” he says evenly.

Dick attempts to dive off the bed; Damian catches him by the ankle.

“You’ll have to do better than that,” he says, rolling his eyes. “Richard, honestly, I’m not going to –”

“Hang me upside down in your closet?” Dick says. “Leave me with the bats?”

“That was –” Damian starts.

“Threaten to feed me to Killer Croc?” Dick continues. “Tie me to the roof? Sic your cat on me?”

“You were a very difficult child!” Damian defends. He does, however, let go of Dick’s ankle, and he shifts so that he’s no longer blocking the door. “Look – we have. A situation. And I think we need to discuss it in a civilized manner.” He pauses. “Well. Colin thinks, anyway. So -- ”

\--

“ – and then he threatened me!” Dick says. Wally nods sympathetically. M’gann and Superboy do too. Dick has no idea who invited them to this latest session of Bat Drama.

“How awful!” M’gann exclaims. “What did you do?”

“Threatened him back,” Dick says. M’gann’s face falls.

“That’s not very nice,” she tells him.

“He threatened to tell Batman that I had _invaded his privacy_ ,” Dick says. “So I threatened to tell Batman about his boyfriend. And then he threatened me with bodily harm.”

“I’ll punch him for you,” Superboy puts in. “If you want me too.”

It’s a tempting offer. He’ll have to file it away for an emergency.

“I thought we had rules about punching,” Kaldur says, entering the room. He crosses the kitchen, opens the fridge, and gives them all his best disapproving stare over the top of it. “What are you all talking about?”

“Robin’s older brother is evil!” M’gann exclaims. Dick is pretty sure his home life has just become her personal soap opera. He’s really not sure how he feels about that, fundamentally.

“Ah,” Kaldur says after a brief pause. To Robin, he says, “I was unaware you had a brother.”

“He’s older, he’s evil, he has a boyfriend,” Wally summarizes, ticking off on his fingers. “So what happened next?”

“I threatened to tell Batman about the time with the Batplane and Superman,” Dick says. Wally and Superboy both open their mouths and Dick holds up a hand. “No way. No. I am sworn to secrecy.”

Superboy seems particularly disappointed by that, but Dick’s not sure he really wants to hear that story anyway. It involves an awful lot of monkeys. And some geese.

“And?” M’gann presses, leaning forward across the table. Kaldur’s trying to look like his full attention is on the contents of their fridge, but he’s listening too.

“And then he threatened to tell Batman about how I’m giving out information about my home environment to, and I quote, that band of urchins and juvenile delinquents I call teammates,” Dick says, taking a deep breath through his nose.

Silence falls.

“Um,” Wally says, dropping his voice to a low whisper. “Dude. Does that …?”

Dick giggles nervously and maybe a little hysterically because this _so_ isn’t funny.

“I swept for bugs. Didn’t find any, but that doesn’t mean anything,” he says. “So… say hi to my brother, guys.”

\--

If home is bad, then patrol is impossible.

For one, Dick won’t get within five feet of Damian out of concerns for his personal safety. For another, Bruce keeps giving them The Look, probably because Dick won’t get within five feet of Damian.

Finally, he pulls them aside.

“I’ve told you two a thousand times,” he growls. “Leave the sibling rivalry at home.”

Damian and Dick exchange a look. Dick hangs his head. Damian holds his up higher. Batman grunts a noise that might be a sigh.

“Don’t let it interfere with the mission,” he says. “I won’t tell you again. Take the alley – and work _together_.”

His voice is equal parts Batman and Dad, and there was absolutely no arguing with it. They go without much more than a mumbled “yes, sir.” Damian’s unusually quiet, and Dick takes the opportunity to look at him – really look at him. He’s wearing the same expression he always wears on patrol, but it’s tighter. His jaw is clenched. Dick can’t really tell without seeing his eyes, but he thinks Damian looks… _concerned_

There is nothing whelming about that.

“Hey,” he says. Damian makes a noise that could mean “hey” or “if you make another sound I will make your life a living hell” or anything in between. Dick soldiers on. “I don’t think it’s weird. That you have a boyfriend. I was just surprised because it’s, y’know. You.”

Damian snorts.

“And, well. He just seems way too nice for you,” Dick mumbles.

“He is way too nice for me,” Damian says loftily, but there’s real affection in his tone. It gives Dick pause. “He thinks we’ve traumatized your innocent young mind.”

Now it’s Dick’s time to snort. Damian, in a rare show of brotherhood, settles his hand on Dick’s head. His gauntlet is heavy and his fingers muss up Dick’s hair. Dick has to duck his head to hide his grin.

There’s a flash of movement at the end of the alley. Damian drops his hand and takes off after it; Dick follows close on his heels.

“But y’know,” Dick says as he runs, “it’s really –”

“Robin,” Damian snaps. “If this is another one of your ridiculous play on words, I will gut you right here.”

Dick shuts up.

\--

“Is he hot?” Artemis asks out of the blue. Dick looks up at her.

“Is who hot?” he says. She rolls her eyes.

“Your brother’s boyfriend,” she says. Dick really wishes they could go back in time to before his teammates cared about Damian’s love life. Someone in the Justice League address book must have a time machine – he’s going to have to look into it.

“I don’t know,” he says. He’s never really thought of Colin as hot. He sort of looks like someone’s lost puppy.

Artemis drops down next to him.

“Well, tell me what he looks like,” she says, grinning.

“Don’t we have training?” Dick asks. “Or a mission? Don’t you want to go swap the cases of Wally’s video games?”

“Nope,” Artemis says cheerily. She crosses her arms, leans back and stares at him. Dick surrenders; it’s just easier at this point.

“I guess he’s more cute?” Dick says uncertainly. He’s never really thought about this much. Artemis makes an approving noise and motions for him to continue. “He’s got red hair –”

“Ugh,” Artemis says, sticking her tongue out. She tips her head back and holds up one hand. “Redheads. Say no more.”

Dick is honestly okay with that.

\--

Colin is standing by the steps when Gotham Academy lets out. He looks very out of place, all handmedown hoodie and scuffed up sneakers in a sea of uniforms and Abercrombie. Someone’s nanny gives him a nasty look. If he notices, he doesn’t let it show. He waves when he spots Dick.

“Hey,” he says, grinning. It’s infectious; Dick grins back. “Damian’s waiting in the car.”

That makes sense. Last time Damian was on the grounds of Gotham Academy the dean swore up and down that he’d call the authorities if he ever saw him again, Wayne heir or not. Bruce had to donate a new gym to make sure there were no hard feelings – so honestly Dick is pretty okay with the fact that Superboy smashed it.

Colin lets Dick get in the car first. Damian is lounging on the far side, so Dick takes the seat right by the door. Colin climbs past him and sits between them. Dick watches as Damian brings his arm up to rest behind Colin’s seat. His fingers brush Colin’s shoulder.

When Colin smiles at him, Damian smiles back. It’s a tiny quirk of his lips, barely noticeable. But it’s a smile. From Damian. Who once stated, with a pointed look at Dick, that anyone who enjoyed romantic comedies should be hanged.

Dick’s mind is blown.

They end up at an ice cream shop, allegedly so Colin can explain things to Dick. Damian, on the other hand, clearly has no interest in making sure Dick’s not traumatized. He spends the entire time staring at Colin, which is kind of traumatizing in and of itself.

“It’s cool,” Dick reassures Colin as their order arrives. “Really. I’m not mentally scarred or anything – it’s awesome that you’re dating.”

Their waitress lingers a second too long, giving them a curious glance. Damian gives her a look that says in no uncertain terms what will happen if she doesn’t start walking.

“It’s just – I don’t get it,” Dick says. “You’re so nice. And he’s so …” he fumbles for a word and just comes up with, “ _Damian_.”

Colin laughs. Damian scowls.

“Well, I like him,” Colin says. He glances around furtively and then leans forward. “And don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone about –” he puts his hands over his head, index fingers pointing upwards, like the ears on Batman’s cowl “ -- _the secret_.”

Dick drops his shake. Damian slaps a hand to his forehead.

“I’m surrounded by idiots,” he grumbles. He signals for the waitress. “We’ll need a refill.”

\--

“Is something wrong?” M’gann asks.

Dick has no idea why she’d think that. He’s only lying flat on his back in the middle of the floor.

M’gann edges forward carefully. He can see the rest of the team behind her – Wally and Artemis aren’t even bothering to hide their curiosity. Kaldur at least has the good graces to pretend he’s searching for something he’s left in the room. Superboy mostly looks confused.

“You’re not hurt, right?” he says.

“Not physically,” Dick replies.

“Is it the brother and his lover?” Artemis chimes in. Dick feels around for a throw pillow, grabs one and lobs it at her.

“I’m _traumatized_ ,” Dick tells them. They all exchange a look. Finally, Wally shrugs. He nudges at Dick with his toe.

“Alright, dude,” he says, “but M’gann’s show is coming on, so do you think you could maybe be traumatized away from the TV?”

\--

The door to Damian’s room is ajar when Dick gets home. He pushes it open carefully; Damian is reclining against his headboard, reading. His cat is curled by his feet.

“You can come in,” he says without looking up.

Dick sits down at the end of the bed. He drums his fingers against his knees. Finally, Damian flicks his eyes over the top of his book.

“Do you have something to say or are you just here for atmosphere?” he asks. Dick snorts.

“Aren’t you worried?” he asks. “About Colin knowing.”

“Not particularly,” Damian replies. Dick frowns.

“He could get hurt,” he says. Damian lowers his book.

“Colin can take care of himself,” he says. He gives Dick a razor sharp smile. Dick decides to let the subject drop for now; he slides off the bed and heads for the door. Damian snaps his fingers.

“Richard, by the way,” he says. “Let your teammates know I return their greetings. And tell the Martian to be less chipper. It’s irritating.”

Dick hightails it out of the room.

\--

“That’s kind of creepy,” Artemis says.

“I told you he was evil!” Wally exclaims, arms akimbo. M’gann pulls another tray of cookies out of the oven and he pounces on them immediately.

“I think it’s sweet,” M’gann says. “He’s looking out for you in his own way! Tell him I say hi back.”

Dick is beginning to regret not passing on the chipper comment. It might’ve made M’gann less fond of Damian.

“I can still hit him,” Superboy offers.

“Tell your brother and his boyfriend I wish them all the best,” Kaldur says. He isn’t even pretending that he’s too dignified to gossip anymore.

“I want new teammates,” Dick mutters. “And a new brother.”

But Colin can stay, he guesses.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[PODFIC] Affection (Brotherly And Otherwise) by Traincat](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7153943) by [Vodka112](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vodka112/pseuds/Vodka112)




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